Reunions In Death
by elomeno
Summary: Their love saved every living being in this world and all others it for it saved Dust. But they were parted so that we can remain saved. And now with their lives over, they find themselves together again.


**AN- This is my first His Dark Materials story and I don't think i do the story much justice but this idea just wouldn't go away so I wrote it and I hope you like it.**

Both Lyra Silvertongue and Will Parry died at the same time, but in different worlds. Both felt the same tug that caused them to move forward towards the land of the dead which they had already visited. Both knew what was about to happen to them for they had played a large part in creating it. And both knew that now, finally they would meet again.

When their dæmons went out like candles, as they had seen happen so many times before, the pain was so much greater than that which both had felt before on the bank in the suburbs of the land of the dead that Lyra felt sure that she would die, again, because of it. And this time her Pan and Will's Kirjava were actually gone, the connection between human and dæmon shattered forever. But no, they must be strong because soon they would meet again, wouldn't they? Their particles would be together and they would be re-joined again in a different but just as deep way.

But first was another reunion.

Since both Lyra and Will's worlds were overlapping and over the years had come to settle over each other, they both approached the land of the dead from the same direction. And slowly as they went forward and the barriers between worlds dropped away for the dead, Will found _her_ beside him. She had come up next to him so softly that he wasn't sure when, but she was here now.

And both felt joy so deep that Will was surprised such joy could be felt and Lyra knew that it was love. Their love for each other had not diminished over the years. It lay deep within their hearts, waiting. Waiting for when the two now-no-longer-children could see each other's faces again. And now was the time, now it rose powerfully like a wave and as Lyra flung her arms around Will it burned through them like flames.

And finally, he could look into her eyes, see their warmth and brightness; the unique, dark-blonde colour of her hair; her soft skin. Because she was now a woman, no longer a child. She was still the same Lyra he knew but now she was a more beautiful Lyra.

And Lyra saw a dark-haired, straight-browed, tall and powerfully built man, but with the same determined look in his eyes, the same jutting-out jaw. And on his left hand, the same two fingers missing.

They were re-united but it was all so different because they were dead and though they could touch, being made of the same materials, the touch was cold and unsatisfying. Gone was the soft warm flesh both had once possessed. Will could hold Lyra but he couldn't smell the scent of her body or the tickling of her hair or even hear her clear voice. For, of course as ghosts they could talk only in a soft whisper. And Lyra in turn couldn't see the brightness in his eyes or hear his authorative, strong voice. They were beings clothed in shadow, bereft of any colour or light. But they were together and that was what mattered.

Both were and stubborn and both were strong. Despite the problems with their voices, they clasped each other's hands as they walked and told each other about their lives.

Lyra had gone to Dame Hannah's boarding school and though she learned other things, it was learning the alethiometer that was of the greatest importance and greatest difficulty. She had to pore through thick, ancient books and learn the meanings of all the symbols and re-learn how to step down those ladders of understanding, but in the end she did it. And then, though the answers took more time and difficulty to understand, Lyra was able to read the alethiometer again, without books. And when that was done and her education was completed, she went out and travelled around her world. She lived with the witches and learned witch-lore, she lived with the bears and learned their secrets and she lived with the gyptians and learned their lifestyles. She saw much of everything there was to see but never was she able to find any windows leading to other worlds. The angels had done their work.

Will, on going back home, had found his mother taken by the authorities. There was nothing he could do about it, being only a child, but with Mary's help he was allowed to live with the scientist instead of being sent to an orphanage or something. There were problems they all faced, since he had killed a man after all, but he didn't understand half of it and wouldn't talk about the other half. They got it sorted in the end and by the time he was old enough to have his mother live with him, Mary had both a job and a husband. He studied law and medicine and first became a lawyer and then a doctor and had enough money for treatment of some kind for his mother. She never became completely alright but was well enough that at least now, after he was dead, she would be alright on her own. After his mother was better, he followed his father's footsteps and became an explorer, a little part of him hoping to find an open window, another part wanting some excitement in life. He got quite a bit of that but he longed for the excitement of travelling to different worlds, seeing things possible only in dreams for most. But the knife was broken and there were no windows to be found.

They had reached the suburbs of the land of the dead but this time instead of going towards the holding area, they went straight to the water's edge and got into the grimy little boat, with its old boatman. Time did not affect these waters. The boatman did not comment on any of the events of the past but he gave Lyra a deep look out of his wizened eyes, for she had vowed to return from where nobody ever had, and she had.

The boat cut through the water easily and soon the island was at their feet. It was still covered with with darkness and shrouded in fog, but instead of terror and loathing, the ground felt peaceful, because a great change had come over this place. Hopefully, a change for the better.

As they stood before the doors, hand in hand, they heard the beats of wings and before them stood Gracious Wings the harpy, Lyra's savior and so-named by her.

But a great change had come over her. Her face was no longer twisted with wickedness and evil, now it showed wisdom and understanding. Her body was bird-like but the feathers covering it were of a lighter shade, more golden than brown and no longer came the reek of rotten things from her. For now, she did not see the wickedness in the hearts of the dead who came here. Instead she listened to their stories, their lives and what they had done with their lives. The harpies now fed on hope and accomplishment and it had changed them.

"Lyra," said the harpy, "And Will. We are well met." And she kissed them both upon their brows and asked them to tell her. They knew what she asked of and so they began.

Without any words from the other, both knew that they would tell her first of their time together, it was the best time they had spent after all. Will started with the day they had first met, in that quiet city in another world. Then he moved onto their last day together, in his world, with the Botanical Gardens and the final farewell. Lyra continued after him, filling in the blanks. She spoke about the day in the land of the mulefah when she had realized her love for the boy-now-man beside her, their first kiss, the small red fruit at his lips, the feelings raging within her. She spoke of the day on the dunes, when their dæmons came back and of what they told them. She stopped after that and both simply spoke of small experiences during their lives, both before and after their meeting.

But Will thought, "It was only when Lyra came that my life changed. Because of her I got the knife, I met the witches and Iorek the bear king, I travelled while alive to the land of the dead, I met my father, I realized what love meant. And when she was wrenched out of my life, with her went all the excitement and happiness I had. There isn't much to talk about before or after." Lyra thought much the same, but now Gracious Wings was beckoning them in through the doors and she wondered what she would find.

A broad road lay before them much the same as the land they had seen before but for the continuous movement of thousands of ghosts, all headed in the same direction. Will and Lyra joined in, lost among the throng of moving ghosts. Time, or perhaps the many light feet that had trodden upon it, though they did not weigh much, had flattened out the terrain and the journey was short. But perhaps that was because there was no longer a great opening made up of nothingness close to their feet. The angels had closed it up completely. Lyra sighed, she had been told about her parents by Serafina Pekkala and she wondered what had happened to them after they fell into the great void, bearing away with them the regent Metatron.

And now before them, was an opening, and through it sunlight streamed down upon the moving body of ghosts. Sunlight, Will realized from another world, through an opening he had made. And then they were nearly there, walking out of the darkness of the passage and into the world where they had found their love for each other. The mulefah had indeed planted a grove of wheel-trees around the opening and a cool breeze blew past Lyra and Will. Its momentum caught their ghostly forms and in front of each other, holding hands tightly, they watched their particles drift apart and spread through the worlds. But everywhere a particle of Will went, one of Lyra followed and everywhere a particle of Lyra drifted, a particle making up Will went. They were bound together finally by their love. And then they had met they particles of their beloved dæmons and Lyra and Pantalaimon were one again while Will and Kirjava were united.

And now, they were drifting, spreading through one, two, thousands of worlds and they were standing in the moonlight, running in the waving grass, lapping at the shores of distant beaches with the waves, running over the clouds, dancing in the rain. They were the very air itself. Or the muddy ground, or open blue skies. They were in forests and deserts, frozen lands, mountains, grasslands, valleys, coasts. They were in the old wise trees that had lived for thousands of years and in the new shoots breaking through the ground. In the stars shining far away and in the little dust motes that caught light under beams of sunlight. They were each drop of water, each strand of a spider's web, each blooming flower, each grain of sand and so much more. They were a part of every living human, animal, panserborne, witch, angel, mulefah and plant anywhere and everywhere. They were Dust and matter. They were everything and everything was them. And they were together.

**AN- Well? I will update my Narnia story too for anyone reading that as well. Life is a bit busy right now and I cant update immediately. Review?**


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